Hindrey made the gesture of a gun with his hand, pointing toward Carol as he commanded his book. The book ripped several pages from its own spine, instantly transforming them into a vast array of dark spears that soared menacingly above his head. He completed the motion by mimic the pulling of a trigger—a signal the weapons immediately obeyed. One spear accelerated first, rushing toward Carol, and then another, followed by another.

  In response, Carol spun her sword, covering the blade completely in Dark Ender. She caught the hilt with both hands, ready to release her attack. As the spears rushed toward her, she unleashed a volley of corrupted wind blades. However, when one spear slipped through her defense and closed in fast, a faint whisper echoed in her ears.

  (Why did you leave us?)

  The voice of the forgotten villager made her stutter, freezing her in place. Her eyes widened in genuine horror. As the spear nearly reached her chest, Carol frantically forced herself back to reality, biting her tongue hard enough to draw blood and snap her focus to the present. She knew the intense pain was real, but she also knew death would grasp her if she hesitated. She swung her sword with a heavy, desperate arc, repelling the remaining spear.

  But Hindrey, closing his book with a loud snap that echoed through the hall, vanished. The moment he disappeared, the spear Carol had repelled dissolved into plain paper pages, creating a necessary distraction.

  Hindrey instantly reappeared directly in front of her, collecting the pages back into his grasp.

  "How did you...?" Carol gasped, utterly shocked.

  "A little application of Sealer teleportation logic, if you will," Hindrey explained with a malicious smile.

  He slammed the bundle of paper down onto the ruined floor. A blinding white light erupted, momentarily searing Carol's vision. In that instant, the familiar dark chains sprang forth, violently thrusting Carol's body and slamming her hard against the wall.

  He maintained his silent command over the chains, spinning and leaping it, pinning Carol to the ceiling structure. With a final, crushing gesture, Hindrey commanded the chains to pull down with brutal force, dragging Carol and a section of the ruined ceiling down to the ground with a devastating impact.

  Carol coughed up a significant amount of blood, the fatal damage coming not only from the chains themselves but from the combined force of the impact with the falling masonry and the floor. She was down.

  "Honestly, I'm quite disappointed that you'd be down this easily, kiddo." Hindrey said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it, letting the smoke curl up slowly. "Knowing an 'anomaly' like you exists, I suppose that explains why my client really wanted you. Though, that specialty isn't as problematic as I thought it would be."

  Carol, covered almost entirely in her own blood, slowly used her sword to brace herself and stand amidst the rubble. Her uniform was shredded, crimson trails dripped heavily from small cuts on her face. The pain was unmanageable, yet she forced herself to remain standing. Her goal, the group's goal, wasn't done yet.

  Hindrey took a deep drag, exhaled a plume of smoke, and his expression hardened, annoyed. "But that persistence of yours is what truly irritates me. That attitude reminds me of my two idiot students. I'm glad they dropped that useless dream, nonetheless."

  "Heh, I think you talk too much, old man," Carol retorted, the taunt still coming through despite her obvious pain. "He searched for me, then went to such extreme measures to destroy that entire village, all because of my 'specialty,' huh?"

  The Ender around Carol began to rise, slowly and ominously, making Hindrey's brow twitch. He threw the cigarette away.

  She let out a faint, hysterical laugh, a clear sign her sanity was fraying. "Is this what you meant, Miss Hana? A hurtful secret?" The chalk-white corruption in her hair visibly spread further. "But for now, I think I'll focus on elsewhere. May I, Irene?"

  (What does this kid even mean? Who is this 'Irene' she's talking to?) Hindrey thought, a cold sweat breaking out on his brow.

  From Carol's perspective, two hands, shimmering purely with Dark Ender, wrapped around her, pulling her into a cold embrace. It was her other persona.

  (To think you even gave me a name. You know what happens afterward, right?) Irene's voice echoed menacingly in Carol's mind.

  Carol closed her eyes, falling into a profound, desperate thought. "I know. Up until this day, I... I don't know what I should do anymore."

  (You don't have to worry about it, Carol. You're not going to stop just because of some simple, desperate excuse from them. For we know...)

  As Irene began to fully integrate with Carol, fading into her host, the blood across Carol's body instantly stopped dripping. Her eyes slowly opened, displaying a deep, steady red iris, a destruction waiting to be unleashed.

  (...that he's the one truly responsible for everything.)

  Saria, still paralyzed on the ground, struggled against the overwhelming pain, blood streaking down her face. Dulcinia walked slowly toward her, raising her heavy mace to deliver the final, killing blow.

  Before Dulcinia could strike, Noire casually stepped between them, his shield planted firmly to protect Saria.

  "What are you...?" Saria gasped, staring at him in disbelief.

  "You think I'd just sit there and do nothing?" Noire’s voice was firm. "I'm tired of being a backliner, only protecting the wounded."

  "But what about Miss Hana..?" Saria pleaded, her voice cracking. "What if she gets in danger again? What if she—"

  Noire cut her off, his tone uncompromising. "She won't, Saria. She's far stronger than you think." He glanced back, giving Saria a reassuring, serious smile. "Miss Hana clarified she can handle herself. Besides, you couldn't focus on fighting anyway, because you'd be worried about her, right?"

  Saria fell silent, unable to argue with the painful truth.

  Dulcinia, infuriated at being ignored, gripped her mace tight and accelerated toward Noire in full fury, swinging the weapon in a devastating arc. Noire's shield caught the attack, deflecting the force, earning him a look of deep frustration from Dulcinia.

  "Quite impatient for someone like you," Noire commented, maintaining a casual, conversational tone despite the clang of metal. "We were literally in the middle of a conversation, okay?"

  "What an ironic thing to say from your mouth, Margias," Dulcinia replied with a shrug, backing a few steps away. "It's about culture. I just don't like being ignored by my opponent, that's all."

  "Is that so?" Noire's tone remained light, but his free hand began to glow with a vibrant green light.

  Suddenly, sharp thorns of a powerful plant erupted from the ground, lashing out toward Dulcinia. Shocked by the unexpected surprise attack, she quickly cast the familiar dark chains. Both powers met and countered perfectly, an equal sign of strength hanging in the air.

  "Then we're going to focus entirely on you," Noire declared, his green light consolidating into a Gladius Sword made purely of plant magic. He gripped the sword, pointing the deadly tip at Dulcinia. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

  Aria coated her broadsword in a fierce fiery flame, swinging it to launch a dozen flame blades toward Erick. He only offered a small, arrogant grin, treating the attack as a mere nuisance. As the blades hit the wall, erupting in a huge cloud of smoke and dust, a shallow, stinging cut sliced across Aria's hip. She gasped, horrified that Erick had already phased behind her and struck. Coughing up a small trail of blood, frustration darkened her face.

  Just then, Rein slammed in, thrusting his lance at Erick with overwhelming force. Erick received the attack, blocking it with his sickles, but the Azure Ice around Rein's lance intensified, the crystallized corruption creeping up his sickles and starting to infect his hands. Realizing Erick was struggling to counter the frost, Rein seized the opportunity, gripping his lance tighter and pushing the antagonist back, breaking the distance between them.

  (Seems like I underestimated them a little. To think he has a power like that.) Erick thought, his expression tightening in frustration as he stared at his left hand, which was now twitching violently from the cold.

  (I need to think another way. Using only brute force won't solve this. Not to mention I still couldn't grasp how to use most of the Azure spells.) Rein closed his eyes for a short, deep breath. He opened them, his mind resolved, and cancelled his Vergus spell, morphing the lance back into his wand.

  "Rein? What are you...?" Aria asked, confused, clutching the wounds she received.

  "If there's someone stronger than you," Rein countered, his voice steady. "What do you do?"

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  "That's..." Aria's eyes widened. She instantly recognized the meaning behind his question, a lesson drilled into them in Verlyn. Rein sighed in approval. "Simple, yet effective, isn't it?"

  Aria slowly turned her focus back to Erick, morphing her broadsword back into her wand as well. "Good thing I still have my brain," she muttered with grim resolve.

  Hearing her statement, Erick snorted in disbelief. He knew exactly what they intended. "Whatever you're going to pull out of your sleeves, it's not going to work."

  Rein and Aria said nothing, simply lifting their wands, a clear signal that they were prepared for a shift in combat. Erick, in his usual arrogant attitude, clicked his sickles repeatedly in his palms, accepting the challenge. Though his left hand continued to twitch from the ice, he ignored it.

  Erick charged forward. Aria began casting her Flame spell, and Rein cast his Azure spell. Their gazes locked amongst each other.

  Carol's sword began to clash repeatedly upon Hindrey's spear. The force of her swings was now tremendously heavier, and her speed was much faster than before, forcing Hindrey into a frantic defensive struggle. He could only defend, his frustration mounting with every passing second.

  In a last, desperate attack, Carol wrapped her sword in a high-density, volatile shroud of Dark Ender and swung it against Hindrey's spear. The impact forced a gasp of pain from him, and he coughed out a spray of blood. The sheer pressure of Carol's sword cracked the ground beneath his feet, staggering him backward against the wall.

  "Wind Rush," Carol commanded in a cold, menacing voice, swinging her sword to unleash a vast wave of corrupted wind energy travelling toward Hindrey at high speed.

  He responded by erecting an enhanced barrier of his magic, wrapping himself tightly within it. The barrier endured Carol's spell, but the surrounding stone structure instantly evaporated from her power. Before Hindrey could process the damage, Carol's form vanished. He canceled his barrier, looking frantically around the damaged hall.

  He realized her location was above him. Annoyed by his precarious situation, Hindrey reacted quickly, casting dark chains beside him to clash with his spear. Carol responded instantly, creating several Dark Needles beside her to intercept the chains, while simultaneously readying her next sword swing. Their power met in a massive, echoing clang.

  Despite gaining new abilities from Irene, Carol was still struggling, her hand was twitching violently on the hilt of the sword, a sign that Hindrey's veteran experience was slightly superior to her raw, unstable power.

  With a final, desperate push, Hindrey broke the clash and knocked Carol away. Opportunity seized, he cast a dozen chains from the surrounding areas, commanding them to thrust into every single part of Carol’s body.

  A river of blood instantly flowed from her, covering her from head to toes. She was momentarily shocked; the pain was too severe to handle, but she knew the fight wasn't over. Hindrey immediately released the chains, throwing Carol to the ground in a violent burst that splashed blood across the corner of the hall.

  She collapsed but slowly began to rise again, her wounds slowly closing themselves with the chilling black energy of the Dark Ender. She was panting heavily, exhausted by the cumulative damage and the strain of controlling Irene's power.

  Seeing her sheer endurance, Hindrey sighed in deep disappointment. "Why do you still refuse to give up? It's useless for you to keep going if the outcome will always be the same."

  "Do you think I'll listen to those words?" Carol retorted, clutching her wounded arm tightly. "I've come this far over a long, painful time. I'm not going to stop until I get what I want."

  "Not going to stop until get what you want, huh." Hindrey stared down at the ground. He closed his eyes, instantly flashing back to a middle-aged woman and his daughter happily waving goodbye before he left home. His vision was then consumed by Margias fire. He knelt in disbelief; his home was ash. The sight of his dead wife and daughter haunted him, the blood flowing toward him as his wife struggled to call his name with her final breath.

  The short flashback ended. Hindrey let out a soft, sorrowful chuckle that morphed into a terrifying roar. "Then neither I'll going to stop! To eradicate the Margias once and for all!" He roared, declaring his ultimate goal of revenge.

  Rein quickly cast several Azure magic circles, launching a dozen summoned ice knives toward Erick. Still charging forward, Erick destroyed some of the projectiles with effortless swings of his sickles. He closed the distance, readying a devastating strike against Rein, but Rein's expression remained utterly unwavering, a calmness that visibly annoyed Erick.

  Erick swung his weapon, fully expecting to claim the kill. However, the target dissolved into a puppet of brittle ice, a simple decoy. As Erick landed with a single, echoing footstep, the area around him instantly transformed into a random, chaotic terrain of Azure Ice. Some structures were massive, some small, all uneven and disorienting. Erick was shocked, spinning furiously to find the whereabouts of the two Margias.

  The scene was silent. Though he heard a faint footstep from the far side, he immediately sliced the ice terrain in half, only to find nothing behind it. Then, in a sudden blur, Aria rushed him, her broadsword ready and covered in fiery flame.

  (What the...? Where did she come from? I couldn't sense any of her Ender at all!) Erick thought, his eyes wide in disbelief.

  He was unprepared; the blade sliced cleanly across his neck. He was violently pushed away, and a soft, sickening snap resonated from his neck as he crashed against the wall. Crimson blood spilled from his mouth, dripping onto the ice. The wound on his neck hissed loudly from the burn. Despite the pain, he pulled himself back together, though a momentary headache clouded his vision. When he recovered, Aria was gone.

  Fury consuming him, Erick rushed the surrounding ice, violently swinging his sickles to destroy the deceptive terrain.

  Hidden behind an impenetrable wall of ice, Rein was casting his spell, his wand alight. Noticing the concentrated Ender source, Erick instantly turned, slicing the command-controlled flying fragments of ice Rein had sent. He charged the ice wall, slashing at the source, but Rein's figure was nowhere to be found. Confused, Erick saw a subtle shadow of Rein flickering on the remaining ice terrain.

  "You think this is funny? Using such a lame trick to defeat me?" Erick yelled, his expression hardening. "Come out and fight me like a warrior, Margias! Where's your usual pride as so-called protectors?!"

  Just then, a small tremor shook the ground below his boots. (This feeling... Crap, I have to run!)

  But his legs were instantly encased by ice chains, locking him down. He desperately tried to break free, but the chains instantly regenerated, binding him tighter. A massive ice platform erupted below his feet, launching him high into the air. Aria leaped after him, pulling her wand. Now slightly above Erick, she cast a devastating huge fireball.

  "Sorry to say," Aria replied, a chilling finality in her voice, "but we just don't care about that. Pride is just pride, nothing more." She swung her wand, sending the enormous spell rocketing toward Erick.

  With no escape, Erick brought his sickles up to endure the impact. The heat was too strong, the book in his pocket began to smoke and hiss, and even his metal weapons couldn't withstand the temperature.

  Suddenly, Rein leaped from below, morphing his wand back into his lance. He enhanced it with his spell, creating a deadly spiraling, ice-edged drill around the tip, aiming for Erick's back. The book sealed on Erick's back responded, forming a defensive barrier.

  (I—I can't lose this... Not to these two bumps!)

  A small, flickering flashback ignited in his mind. Young Erick and Dulcinia, ragged and desperate, being sent to an orphanage. They were later sent to the Sealer Library. Erick fought constantly to protect Dulcinia from the envy and malice of other Sealers. Despite their immense potential, they were outcasts.

  Then, a familiar face appeared before them. "Hey, are you the infamous Shadow Blood?" Irlia smiled confidently. Revir sighed in embarrassment beside her.

  "What do you want from me, Princess of the Sealer?" Erick asked.

  "Do you want to join us? I have the most ingenious idea ever that might interest you!"

  Erick, cynical, pulled a sickle to Irlia's neck. Revir instantly countered with his axes. Malicious intent flared between two of them.

  "I know you don't want to believe me," Irlia continued, unfazed. "Knowing you and the girl beside you have experienced many bad things." She nodded to Revir, commanding him to drop his weapon. Dulcinia looked desperately at Erick, clearly having made her choice. Erick sighed, relenting. "What exactly is your idea?"

  "You see!" Irlia exclaimed, excited.

  Back in the present, the barrier on Erick's back cracked as the ice infected the defense. Rein pushed with all his strength, breaking the barrier completely. Time seemed to slow as Erick’s eyes widened in horror, realizing this was his first true defeat.

  (Heh, sorry if I wasn't strong enough, Dulcinia.)

  Rein thrust his lance through the book and into Erick's back. As the massive fireball made contact with the lance, it instantly froze the entire fireball and Erick within a massive, silent block of Azure Ice.

  Dulcinia, still locked in the fight with Noire and Saria, caught a fleeting glimpse of Erick's unconscious body as the massive block of Azure Ice shattered apart. A wave of deep horror and dread washed over her fragile composure. She instantly loosened her grip on her mace, letting it fall, and rushed toward Erick, who was still falling toward the ground. Saria raised her bow, ready to fire, but Noire gently placed his hand on her shoulder. He simply nodded, reassuring her to let it be.

  Dulcinia summoned the chains from her book, commanding them to catch Erick's descending body. With immediate action, she slowed his fall, kneeling carefully to place him gently onto the ground. She looked him over, worried, but noticed something impossible: there were no visible wounds, only a small, singed hole in his uniform. His breathing was also surprisingly stable, as if he had been healed by something immediate.

  Rein and Aria landed silently nearby, walking toward her. They stood directly behind her.

  "We were the ones who healed him," Aria stated, her voice tight. "You should be grateful after everything you've done to us." She threw a potion bottle onto the ground in front of Dulcinia.

  "But... why?" Dulcinia asked, turning her conflicted gaze toward Aria. "Aren't you guys going to kill him?"

  Aria let out a deep sigh. "Well, we really wanted to kill him. But the way he looked at you with that sympathetic look... I couldn't help but pour the potion into him. Is that wrong for you?"

  Dulcinia fell into a thoughtful silence, then turned back to Erick, clenching her hands in frustrated confusion.

  Suddenly, a loud explosion tore through the hall. Hindrey flew harshly out of the smoke, slamming into the wall, where he slid to the ground in obvious pain. Carol followed, panting heavily, her body covered in countless superficial wounds and bruises, her state giving the entire group a cold jolt of horror.

  "Ca-Carol...?" Saria whispered, covering her mouth in fear.

  Hana, sensing the volatile Dark Ender presence nearby, slowly opened her eyes. The sight of Carol was an unpleasant surprise, forcing her to mumble to herself, "Looks like the thing you feared the most has finally happened, Grey." She stared at Carol with profound sympathy.

  Hindrey, however, pushed himself back to his feet. Despite his injuries, he showed no sign of surrender. Neither did Carol, who quickly snapped back into her battle stance.

  "Rein, can you go first and search for Revir?" Aria demanded, quickly morphing her wand back into a broadsword. "Three of us have a job to do here, and we don't have time for this stalemate."

  Rein nodded, determination hardening his face. "Okay. Be careful here." He gave one last look back at the chaos before rushing deeper into the library, leaving the group behind.

  "You too, Rein," Aria whispered back.